diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_irq.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_irq.c
index b9fafe3b045bd..9e34a1abeb61b 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_irq.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_irq.c
@@ -1740,6 +1740,16 @@ void ironlake_irq_preinstall(struct drm_device *dev)
 		INIT_WORK(&dev_priv->rps_work, gen6_pm_rps_work);
 
 	I915_WRITE(HWSTAM, 0xeffe);
+	if (IS_GEN6(dev)) {
+		/* Workaround stalls observed on Sandy Bridge GPUs by
+		 * making the blitter command streamer generate a
+		 * write to the Hardware Status Page for
+		 * MI_USER_INTERRUPT.  This appears to serialize the
+		 * previous seqno write out before the interrupt
+		 * happens.
+		 */
+		I915_WRITE(GEN6_BLITTER_HWSTAM, ~GEN6_BLITTER_USER_INTERRUPT);
+	}
 
 	/* XXX hotplug from PCH */